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Cameron's Kingdom - Whatever next?

Recent PR gaffes and the politically damaging Leveson Inquiry have led to dismal local election results and rumblings about the vision and direction of David Cameron's government.

David Cameron must be having a very reflective Bank Holiday. As I said last week the Queen’s Speech will be under critical review after the dousing the Tories took at the local elections. The only saving grace was winning the London Mayoral election from Labour. Even this was no great coup – it was neck and neck up to the second count. To be this close to, a frankly worn out, Ken Livingstone was no victory at all for Boris Johnson.

Anyone with a modicum of political nous would have seen for the past two months that Cameron’s eye has been seriously off the ball.

We had numerous blunders: from the hapless Francis Maude causing a run on the petrol pumps by announcing it was a good idea to fill up in case there was a delivery drivers strike. Followed by the sordid and politically damaging revelations emerging at the Leveson Inquiry courtesy of previously untouchable Murdoch & Son – Rupert and James have vented their own embarrassment and anger by dropping all and sundry in to the mire!

Yet, even with the government's ability to shoot itself squarely in the foot, it has still managed to outdo itself in the stupidity stakes with George Osborne's Budget announcement lowering the 50p rate of tax down to 45p. Less than a 100,000 taxpayers actually benefited but it just so happens they are the richest taxpayers in the UK.

Have Osborne and his advisers got no sense – the rest of the nation’s taxpayers are seeing their incomes and living standards drop and he then pads the pockets of the rich. Bloody stupid to say the least! To top it all we had the very badly handled ‘Granny Tax Grab’, which was so incompetently explained it gave all the newspapers TV media a field day for headlines.

And while Rome burns (UK Limited going down the economic pan!) we have the political push on House of Lords Reform and the debate around legalisation of gay marriage. This is the topping on the cake – in all three months appalling PR blunders!

It’s no surprise the weekend papers are foretelling the demise of Cameron and Osborne.

If Cameron wants to take the high ground away from Labour and get the electorate support he needs he must act quickly. A Cabinet reshuffle is essential to get rid of the Tory and Liberal buffoons who are dragging the Coalition down.

We need some big ticket projects to re-energise the building sector and a 5% cut in VAT to get people buying in the shops again. These changes combined with some innovative incentives to employers to take on young workers will make things happen and pick us up out of the doldrums. Cameron has a very small window of opportunity to sort this out – about a month. If he leaves it after the summer recess then he stands a good chance of being dead in the water by Christmas.

We want strong leadership and someone with a vision of where we are going and when we are going to get out of this mess. Cameron’s loyalty to his inadequate colleagues is wasted - he needs a ‘refreshed team’ who can get the job done, not just time servers. Go out to industry and bring in some top guns who can see what needs doing and having the verve to get it done. If you muck this one up David you will have no-one to blame but yourself!